Week 4 Part 1 Aesthetics, Design, Branding Websites

www.gatesnfence.com was SO BUSY and had so much content it was overwhelming and cluttered! Aesthetically I did not care for it. It had too many colors and buttons and options etc... Design did not look very professional. It did contain all of the content that it should except for testimonials, press, events and a blog. So it was pretty complete. But from the home page I could not find how to get to the shopping cart? It would give you a button to view cart if you added something to the cart. I had to add a product to the cart and then remove it if I wanted to see the cart. So if you went back to shop and didn't want anything else, you were stuck. But there didn't seem to be a button to get you there from the shopping pages or home pages? Branding was confusing because there was so many products on there and it seems they are a distributor for so many.

www.headhunterhairstyling.com was nice and had a pleasant style about it, but was a little boring and plain. It was more of just a PR site that showed their services. The design was good because it looked professional and artistic. They did have most of the content, but no search, no shopping to buy products from them for instance, no event, no FAQs, press or testimonials. It did have a photo gallery, but no reviews. But there were links to sites, but not much activity on them. That would be a benefit to have people's reviews of how happy they are with the salon and their hair. It had a services and pricing page, but a calendar and scheduler would be nice to book an appointment. Branding was good because it was very clear they were a professional, upscale salon.



www.apple.com was very nice and clean and easy to maneuver through even though they had a lot of information/ products to present. It was well organized by category. Design was accurate for their image that they project of simplicity. They had all of the content except for social media links. But there was a link to "communities" for asking questions and get answers from other apple users, so that kind of is a way of completing the site with live testimonials and reviews. They did a good job on the site. But the only problem was when I went to shop and picked out several products, they were all currently unavailable. Branding was good because they seem to be very stylish and create products that are easy to use and simple. Their repetition of contents and headings was good and accessible.

www.toyota.com was very good and presented the cars very well. They had all of the content that made the site complete. Design was good and very upbeat looking and colorful. Looking at all the cars was not boring, instead was fun seeing them. They had ways to "build" the car exactly the way you wanted and would give all of the options and pricing and where to find the dealer nearby to buy it... It even showed a blog on one that I looked for that was discontinued when I searched for it. It didn't have an event calendar, but did have social media links that were very current and actives. Overall it was very good and informative and looked professional,  clean and clear. It was very easy to maneuver through it and get the information that I was looking for. Branding was good because they had their complete product line under the one umbrella, and showed style and new trends. They are showing that they are progressive with their new designs in cars. They had access to the headings and repetition of the pages content too.